Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Here in “Grow Fins” Beefheart wants to negate the results of millennia of evolution and slip back into the depths of. He wants to abandon the burden of land, the burden of humanity, even the burden of sentience. He wants to destroy the self, and to survive it.

Tell me he doesn’t sound serious. That beat doesn’t sound real to you? That howl sound light? Seen the guy around recently? Heard any albums from him in the last three decades? I think he was serious. I think he’s left this life for something lesser and simpler and better. They say he’s retired to become an artist, but I think he’s fooled us all. I think he’s grown fins.

Greg says no charges are called for since on one was hurt. I think that's an excessively lenient take on it. I find Greg's attitude a bit puzzling too. If I were a responsible gun owner I would be the first one decrying the irresponsibility of gun owners like this one. They give everyone a bad name, that would be my position.

Concealed carry permit holders are no different than gun owners at large, despite the bizarre claims to the contrary from some of their number. The fact is permit holders commit many acts of bumbling and dangerous gun misuse for which they receive nothing more than a verbal warning to be more careful, if that.

One might think they receive the same special treatment which they continually claim is reserved for the police.

A suburban Chicago woman has been charged with boarding an aircraft with a weapon after allegedly bringing a loaded gun into Midway International Airport.

Josephine Coleman of Country Club Hills was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 on Sunday. According to police reports, the 25-year-old was arrested Saturday after allegedly putting a bag containing a loaded handgun on a Transportation Security Administration X-ray machine. Police say Coleman said she didn't realize the gun was there.

The police report states Coleman has a valid Firearm Owner's Identification card and she told police she is in the military.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre was ridiculed for a February op-ed on a conservative news website that recommended buying guns and joining the NRA in order to ensure "survival" in the face of possible coming calamities including: "Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals," the threat of "Latin American drug gangs," and "the possibility of Euro-style debt riots, civil unrest or natural disaster." LaPierre concluded: "It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival." Widely mocked for its over-the-top rhetoric and factual inaccuracies, the op-ed was also criticized by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough for being "so laced with racial overtones."

I find it funny that you can’t drive 10 miles in the Nashville area without passing a billboard for some kind of gun shop or seeing a gun shop from the road.Even if many of them are very simple with their graphics and their messages, it’s entertaining. It certainly reflects that the gun culture is healthy even in an urban area.However, there’s one that drives me up the wall in all of the years I’ve been driving through from the East Coast to Nashville area. It’s Outdoor Junction at exit 290 off I-40. In all of the years they have been advertising on billboards along I-40, they have only catered to men. They bill themselves as a place to buy “Men’s Toys” with a picture of a handgun. It would be one thing if, somewhere in their advertising corridor, they included a billboard catering to women. They don’t. They have multiple billboards to promote how they appear to only sell things to men. I can tell you right now that I would never be willing to walk in because their advertising sends a message that they simply don’t even acknowledge women as customers shopping for themselves as opposed to shopping for their men.

What's funny is when a female gun nut pretends that she's surprised at this. I suppose she's really unaware that gun ownership, gun rights, gun nuttiness and all other things about guns are largely dominated by and geared towards the men folk.

Here's one indication, if the outdoor advertising in Nashville is not sufficient. The Truth About Guns, which is the undisputed leader in on-line gun fanaticism conducted a reader survey last year. The results were anything but surprising.

Saddled by what they feel are the most restrictive weapons laws in the nation, some Connecticut gun owners are champing at the bit for next year's gubernatorial election, when they hope to put in office someone whose views of the Second Amendment are more closely aligned with their own.

There's just one problem, as The Connecticut Mirror, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news website reported last week: None of the leading candidates, especially Democratic incumbent Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, appears likely to support overturning the state's strict controls over the purchase of guns, ammunition and large-capacity magazines.

After all, the governor himself championed the new restrictions and became one of the most visible and ardent advocates for tough gun legislation after the December 2012 shooting massacre at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School left 20 youngsters and six adults dead.

Nearly a year after passage of the state's new gun law, dealer sales of popular AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have ended in New York and arrest data show more than 1,000 gun possession charges in New York City were boosted from misdemeanors to felonies because of the changes.

Meanwhile, 59 people have been charged statewide with misdemeanors for possessing large-capacity magazines or having more than seven bullets loaded in a magazine, both outlawed by the law passed last January in the aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

A report from the Division of Criminal Justice Services shows only one person charged with the illegal sale or transfer of a gun defined as an assault weapon as of mid-December. The new law tightened that definition to include AR-15s. Owners may keep their older weapons but must register them by April 15.

"The numbers are indisputable. The SAFE Act has enabled the state to better protect New Yorkers," said Melissa DeRosa, spokeswoman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He pushed the legislation shortly after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead. Police said the 20-year-old gunman used a semi-automatic rifle and 30-round magazines.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

I cry but I can't buyYour Veteran's Day poppyIt don't get me highIt can only make me cryIt can never grow anotherSon like the one who warmed me my daysAfter rain and warmed my breathMy life's bloodScreamin' empty she crysIt don't get me highIt can only make me cryYour Veteran's Day poppy.

"If you lawful gun owners were constrained by law to lock up your guns at home, that wouldn't lessen the number of guns stolen each year? Please answer that question straight up, yes or no."

To elaborate a bit, the question was put to Greg several times to no avail. Whenever he's faced with a difficult question, one whose answer would prove him wrong in an earlier comment, he dodges and obfuscates the situation to the point of tedium. His earlier comment which prompted my question was this:

"Mikeb, what I've said to you is that your proposals would disarm good people without removing guns from bad people."

My idea is that if safe storage were mandated by law, most gun owners would comply. They would go out and buy the gun safes that many of them have been intending to buy anyway. Being motivated by the legal requirement, they would comply. They are law-abiding after all.

The other part of my thinking is that of the half-a-million guns stolen each year, very few of them were locked up in gun safes. They were kept in night-stand drawers or closet shelves, some under the pillow or mattress. Thieves come in and pick up the guns like picking ripe fruit off a tree. When a burglar is confronted with a locked safe he sometimes has the time and tools to break into it, but not always. In many cases, perhaps most, his priority is to silently take what's available and get out as quickly as possible.

The result of this one simple gun-control law would be quite the opposite of what Greg said in his hysterical attempt to defend his threatened freedom. NO good people would be disarmed and MANY guns would not end up in the hands of bad people.

Gun registration had always seemed like the “line in the sand” — a proposal that would so offend the nation’s gun-rights advocates that they would bring out their full political muscle to stop it. Yet a California law mandating government record-keeping for all new long-gun purchases goes into effect on Jan. 1 and few people even seem to know about it.

This year, gun owners were relieved that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the toughest gun-control measures that came to his desk, including one that would have banned sales of almost all semi-automatic rifles. But back in 2011, after much debate, the governor signed the registration law, AB 809, with a 2014 start date. It’s far broader than any of the bills the governor dealt with in the last session.

Supporters claim it’s not exactly registration, in that the law calls forthe state to retain background-check records of those who purchase guns and does not register specific guns to specific people. Opponents say that’s just semantics. The main element of registration is that the government can track legal gun owners. In this case the department will have a list of every owner and the specific guns each person buys. The state already tracks the purchases of handguns and “assault weapons.”

Business InsiderBack in March, separate police reports revealed that authorities discovered NRA certificates among the Lanzas' possessions. In a sharply worded statement then, the NRA said that neither were members.

"There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association. Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory," the statement said. According to the NRA's website, the association does not give out formal certificates for membership.

Mark RussoThe New York TimesLast April, workers at Middlesex Hospital in Connecticut called the police to report that a psychiatric patient named Mark Russo had threatened to shoot his mother if officers tried to take the 18 rifles and shotguns he kept at her house. Mr. Russo, who was off his medication for paranoid schizophrenia, also talked about the recent elementary school massacre in Newtown and told a nurse that he “could take a chair and kill you or bash your head in between the eyes,” court records show.The police seized the firearms, as well as seven high-capacity magazines, but Mr. Russo, 55, was eventually allowed to return to the trailer in Middletown where he lives alone. In an interview there recently, he denied that he had schizophrenia but said he was taking his medication now — though only “the smallest dose,” because he is forced to. His hospitalization, he explained, stemmed from a misunderstanding: Seeking a message from God on whether to dissociate himself from his family, he had stabbed a basketball and waited for it to reinflate itself. When it did, he told relatives they would not be seeing him again, prompting them to call the police.

As for his guns, Mr. Russo is scheduled to get them back in the spring, as mandated by Connecticut law.

“I don’t think they ever should have been taken out of my house,” he said. “I plan to get all my guns and ammo and knives back in April.”

The Russo case highlights a central, unresolved issue in the debate over balancing public safety and the Second Amendment right to bear arms: just how powerless law enforcement can be when it comes to keeping firearms out of the hands of people who are mentally ill.

Connecticut’s law giving the police broad leeway to seize and hold guns for up to a year is actually relatively strict. Most states simply adhere to the federal standard, banning gun possession only after someone is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility or designated as mentally ill or incompetent after a court proceeding or other formal legal process. Relatively few with mental health issues, even serious ones, reach this point.

A man who was shot in the chest while working in his yard on Christmas morning initially tried to walk when his son helped him up.
But Bruce Fleming, 69, died a short time later at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in nearby Orange City.The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday. While Christmas dinner was being prepared, Bruce Fleming went outside to do some yard work. Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators say the shooting appears accidental. A bullet from a gun that was fired from a nearby property struck Fleming. Officials say a man admitted to firing the shotgun but said he didn't know he hit anyone. His name has not been released.
Sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said Thursday that a charging decision hasn't been made and the investigation continues.

WHMI-FM reports the 32-year-old man from the Livingston County community of Green Oak Township was shot in the buttocks Thursday evening at the Home Depot in Brighton. Police say it appears he was reaching for his wallet when he inadvertently grabbed the pistol and a shot fired.

The man was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital.

Police say the man had a license to carry the concealed weapon and no charges will be filed.

Of course charges won’t be filed. Apparently having a carry permit means you have a license to discharge your weapon by accident, putting the rest of us at risk. I mean, as we all know, licensed carry holders are the most responsible everand prosecuting them for being irresponsible would mean that were no longer true. Can’t have that, now!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Ben FreemanThe GuardianA south Louisiana man attacked his former in-laws, his current wife, and the head of a hospital where he had worked, killing three before killing himself, authorities said.

The shootings happened at four locations in two parishes about 45 miles south-west of New Orleans on Thursday. The first report came about 6.40pm, when Lafourche parish councilman Louis Phillip Gouaux — who was shot in the throat — called 911 from his home in Lockport, Houma, Louisiana, the Courier newspaper reported.

Gouaux's wife, Susan "Pixie" Gouaux, was dead when deputies arrived, Matherne said. Louis Phillip Gouaux and his daughter, Andrea Gouaux, were injured and taken to University Hospital in New Orleans. Both were in critical but stable condition, Matherne said.

About 20 minutes later in Raceland, Ochsner St Anne general hospital administrator Milton Bourgeois was shot and killed at close range at his home, Matherne said. His wife, Ann Bourgeois, was shot and taken to the New Orleans hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.

Raceland police said Bourgeois was shot at close range and his wife was shot in the leg.

The Famous 50% (Lawful Gun Owners Who Should Be Disarmed)

A few years ago I wrote a post called The Famous 10%. It became one of my most popular, arousing much animosity from the gun-rights fanatics and frequently quoted and referred to by gun control advocates. I reposted it here.

Almost immediately it became clear that I had been much too generous in the assigning of percentages. Soon I was talking about 35% and not long after that 50%

If you spent as much time as I do reading about gun violence, I think you'd agree with me, unless, of course, you had a personal agenda to protect.

Alcohol abuse is difficult to define, but let's take a study that found that 30% of Americans abuse alcohol. That translates straight across the board to gun owners. Please note that we're not including the regular, normal drinkers, whom some believe should be disqualified as well. These are the binge drinkers and the out-and-out alcoholics. That's 30% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for alcohol abuse.

Mental disorders afflict many Americans. One conservative estimate says 22% are sufferers. It may sound harsh, but if you have a mental condition that requires medication for you to function in society, you cannot be trusted with guns. That's another 22% of gun owners that need to be disarmed for mental illness.

Rage and anger affects many people. Estimates say 7% of adults suffer from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). That's another 7% of gun owners that need to be disarmed for their anger problems.

FBI Crime Stats show us that about 500,000 crimes are committed with a gun each year. Let's say most are committed by criminals and only a small percentage by folks like this guy who had no previous felony convictions. Let's call it 1%. That's 1% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for turning bad.Stupidity and clumsiness affects many people. We frequently read stories like this one representing stupidity, and this one representing clumsiness. Let's be generous and say another 1% only. That's 1% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for stupidity or clumsiness.

Obviously some of the marijuana and cocaine users also could be binge drinkers, and some of the rage guys are fueled by alcohol, so we will have some overlap.

Let's round it down to a nice even 50%. That's 50% of lawful gun owners who need to be disarmed.

Now, before you attack me for being so anti-gun, please take note of the fact that I believe in the rights of the other 50%. I don't think the 2nd Amendment has anything to do with it, being an obsolete, meaningless and antiquated piece of writing, but I do believe that the other 50% has every right to own and operate guns.

The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says "State" instead of "Country" (the Framers knew the difference - see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia's vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too.

In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the "slave patrols," and they were regulated by the states.

In Georgia, for example, a generation before the American Revolution, laws were passed in 1755 and 1757 that required all plantation owners or their male white employees to be members of the Georgia Militia, and for those armed militia members to make monthly inspections of the quarters of all slaves in the state. The law defined which counties had which armed militias and even required armed militia members to keep a keen eye out for slaves who may be planning uprisings. [...] It's the answer to the question raised by the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio inDjango Unchained when he asks, "Why don't they just rise up and kill the whites?" If the movie were real, it would have been a purely rhetorical question, because every southerner of the era knew the simple answer: Well regulated militias kept the slaves in chains.

That's the original intent of the Second Amendment as it was finally, lop-earedly phrased. And that's why it has that clunky preface – which, for almost any other part of the Constitution would be taken dead-seriously by the originalists on the Supreme Court, but not here. Antonin Scalia, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Antonin Scalia, the white courtesy phone, please.

Reactions to mass shootings in the United States have followed a depressing pattern in recent years. People become outraged when a member of Congress is shot in the head, or when twenty-nine people are killed in a Colorado movie theater. But gun advocates always manage to silence the discussion. "It would disrespect the victims to politicize this tragedy," they say with mock sincerity, failing to note that not discussing gun-safety reforms politicizes the tragedy to their advantage.Within weeks, outrage morphs into fascination with celebrity drug relapses or the next "storm of the century." Then gun-related tragedy strikes again, and the pattern recycles.But the December Newtown school children shooting has been different. Outrage hasn't given way to short attention spans. A National Rifle Association spokesperson callously said gun-rights advocates should wait for the "Connecticut effect" to dissolve. But it hasn't. Our outrage has turned us around to the obvious fact that our laws aren't helping to prevent these tragedies. Americans are now strongly in favor of common-sense gun-safety reforms.

Beggars Can Be ChoosersThe true owners of America (the top .1 percent) hijacked democracy in America a long time ago. Today's U.S. government is nothing more than a concierge service to the Rich & Powerful. "Our" government no longer really serves the interests of ordinary Americans. It only serves the interests of the top ultra-wealthy elites.

The fact is, real democracy died long ago in America--and guns did nothing to prevent it from happening.

In reality, the oligarchy that controls the real levers of power in America isn't afraid of guns.You want real freedom? Try a place like Europe, where you'll find loads of freedoms that most Americans don't enjoy. In Europe, you'll find legal dope, legal gay marriage, legal euthanasia, strong workers' rights, 6 weeks annual vacations, the right to join a union without being fired, good public schools, unlimited speed limits on the autobahn, etc. etc.

A 12-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the lower leg Wednesday evening on East Jacobs Road north of Spokane Valley.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an accidental shooting around 8:45 p.m.

The boy and his grandfather were roughhousing together in the living room of a home on the 14000 block of East Jacobs Road when a handgun in a concealed holster on the grandfather’s belt went off, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The bullet went through the boy’s right calf.

The injury wasn’t life-threatening, the Sheriff’s Office said, and the boy was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

He was probably a concealed carry permit holder practicing home carry. As we often say, the chances of shooting a family member are greater than the possibility of shooting a bad guy. Stupid, stupid people.

The Washington TimesHundreds of high-volume private gun dealers are transferring tens of thousands of firearms every year over the Internet without conducting background checks, according to a report from the gun control advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns based on an investigation conducted from August to October.

The investigation looked at listings on ArmsList.com, a firearms clearinghouse akin to Craigslist, where prospective buyers can check out supplies posted by individual sellers.

The investigation found that “high-volume sellers” — those who listed five or more guns — posted 29 percent of the private seller gun ads on ArmsList.com during the period, a rate at which the sellers would transfer 243,800 guns each year.

Beyond posting ads for multiple firearms, 58 percent of the high-volume sellers contacted by the investigators offered at least one additional indicator that they were “engaging in the business,” including selling guns new or in the original packaging, selling guns for profit and buying and reselling guns within a short period.

A man is in critical condition after a shooting at Sports & Spirits, according to the Fort Wayne Police Department. Officers were called to the bar and found two victims inside suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. There were multiple shell casings outside and the southern-most windows were riddled with bullets, according to police. One victim, an adult male, was in critical condition and taken to a hospital. The other victim, an adult female, was taken to a hospital in fair condition, police said. A preliminary investigation said the suspects, who were identified by witnesses and surveillance video, were escorted out of the bar after a disturbance then began to shoot through the window. Today's shooting was not the first at the bar this year
A shooting in the parking lot in March left a man and woman with serious injuries. Police at the time said an altercation in the lot of Sports & Spirits preceded the shooting. A man was shot and critically injured near the bar in September 2012 and another in October 2011, according to The Journal Gazette archives.

An armed man angry because he wasn’t allowed inside a New Jersey jiggle joint Christmas morning opened fire, killing three men — including the bouncer — and wounding two others, officials said.

This must be one of those gun-free zones that acted like a magnet to the crazy shooter. You see, this guy chose this particular place because he knew his victims would be like sitting ducks and wouldn't be able to shoot back. Get it?

A woman was recovering after she was accidentally shot by her sister-in-law during a squirrel-hunting outing in Monterey County on Sunday, a sheriff’s sergeant said.

The shooter fired a Remington 20-gauge shotgun from about 70 yards away, and shotgun pellets hit the victim in the face, head, upper back and left arm, investigators said.

The victim was not wearing brightly colored safety gear and apparently blended into the scenery, sheriff’s Sgt. Kathy Palazzolo said.

“She was very lucky,” Palazzolo said.

The shooting appears to have been accidental, and no criminal charges will be filed, the sergeant said.

“It doesn’t sound like there was any ill will, they all get along well. It was just an unfortunate accident,” Palazzolo said.

First the idiot cop says it was the victim's fault for not wearing orange, then she dismisses the whole thing because there wasn't any "ill will." What there was was proof that the shooter was in violation of the basic safety rules, a strong indication that she's incapable of owning and using guns safely.

It's really discouraging that even in the relatively enlightened State of California gun misuse can go unpunished like this.

The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office says the accidental discharge of a gun has left one man dead and another charged.

Deputies arrived on scene and found a male victim dead from a gunshot wound.

The victim has been identified as 20-year-old Randall Thomas Lewis. Deputies say he died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

Sheriffs' detectives say the investigation and determined that Lewis and 19-year-old Michael Bradley Rouse were engaged in horseplay while Rouse held a semi-automatic handgun. Rouse reportedly pointed the handgun at the victim believing the gun had the safety engaged. The gun was then fired and a bullet struck Lewis.

Rouse was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, felony possession of marijuana, maintaining a dwelling for the use or sale of controlled substances and possession of a firearm by felon. He was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Now that's the way to ensure that you'll be held accountable for misusing your gun, being a drug dealer.

I suppose the description of the incident was a bit better this time. "The gun was then fired and a bullet struck Lewis." That's definitely better than " the gun then went off."

TPMA 3-year old boy died Friday night after he found his father's misplaced gun and shot himself, the Arizona Star reported.

Police were called to a home in Sahuarita, Ariz., where the boy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Officer Philip Steele, a spokesman for the Sahuarita Police Department.The child had found his father's gun and shot himself in the face. The firearm was "inadvertently misplaced," according to Steele, and did not have a safety latch.The shooting was accidental and no one was charged, according to the newspaper.

It's interesting that some of the demonstrators are gun owners themselves, but not surprising. There's a widespread resentment of the cops among many gun owners. I find it a bit exaggerated. The fact is civilian gun owners get away with this kind of gun misuse all the time. It's even been defended on this blog with the observation that no one else was injured.

Nevertheless, despite the petty motivations of the demonstrators, they are exactly right. All gun misuse should be punished. If we did that consistently, many second, third and fourth offenses would be prevented.

An off-duty North Charleston firefighter and his brother were injured in an accidental shooting Saturday night, according to a spokesman with Berkeley County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say the incident happened around 7 p.m. in the 300 block of Cohen Circle in Ladson.

Authorities say one of the brothers was clearing a weapon when the gun accidentally went off and struck him in the hand. Deputies say it went through the victim's hand and stuck the other brother in the leg.

Officials say the victim with the bullet wound to the leg underwent surgery and is in serious condition.

I would like to wish a very Merry Christmas to our co-bloggers, readers and especially our commenters. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Eve and will continue to enjoy this very special holiday today. I wish you and your families all the very best.

A 14-year-old Colorado girl was shot and killed by her stepfather early Monday morning after he mistook her for a burglar entering their house.

She later died at a local hospital.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the shooting took place around 6 a.m. Monday. Police were initially called to the house to respond to a burglary attempt.

The Associated Press reported that authorities are determining whether the stepfather acted recklessly. The state’s “make my day” law allows homeowners the right to shoot and kill an intruder in self-defense inside their homes if they feel the other person is there to commit a crime and use physical force against them.

Originally known as the Homeowner Protection Act, the law’s nicknames is a reference to Clint Eastwood’s oft-quoted line, “Go ahead, make my day,” from the film Sudden Impact.

No arrests were made at the time of the incident, and the names of the victim and her stepfather were not released, while police and prosecutors continue their respective investigations.